Mike DeVito is one of the most stand-up guys on the Jets, so when he goes on WFAN and tells New York that Tim Tebow should have gotten more playing time, it’s worth mentioning.

The Jets defensive end said yesterday on WFAN he feels bad about how things “went down” between the team and Tim Tebow and wishes the much-maligned quarterback had gotten more of an opportunity to play.

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“I would have liked to see him get a chance,” DeVito said.

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DeVito said he doesn’t make the decisions and “I trust the guys that we have to do that, but Tim has such an intangible in the type of leader and the type of person that he is.

“I think he’s a great leader. I think he’s a guy who could have won games for us, and I think that’s why we had him here.

“I really do feel like, with Tim at the helm, there is an aspect of it that you can’t really put into words, but guys just want to rally behind him. And when you put Tim in that leadership role, that’s where he excels. … I think [if] you put Tim in there, I think we win games. I really believe that.”

Rex Ryan has told his players that it’s OK to be open and honest with the press as long as players don’t do anything to tear down their teammates. In no way did what Mike DeVito do constitute a maligning of any of his teammates, if anything he’s praising both his teammates at the QB spot in the whole course of his interview. Sanchez’s struggles were evident to the world, so all DeVito is saying is that he feels like the coaches didn’t give their backup a enough of a chance. It’s an assessment I agree with, even if I think that Tim Tebow might be one of the the worst conventional quarterbacks in the league. All Tebow ended up being was a chess piece between Rex Ryan and Mike Tannenbaum.